In the electric welding workshop of Voyah Auto located in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Wuhan, Hubei Province, robots operate on the assembly line (photo taken on April 1, 2024). As the only province with over a thousand kilometers of mainstream flow along the Yangtze River and a pivotal hub connecting the eastern and western parts of the Yangtze Economic Belt, Hubei has long been a crucial transportation junction and economic center for nine provinces. In the first quarter of this year, Hubei's GDP reached 1.429457 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, marking a strong start.
Firmly grasping its strategic positioning of "accelerating the construction of an important strategic pivot for the rise of central China," Hubei adapts to trends to seek practical solutions, studies new situations, and devises strategies based on local conditions to address new challenges. The province continuously strengthens its foundational support to shoulder greater responsibilities and contribute more to the national development agenda.
Leverage: Activating Factors and Coordinating Supply and Demand On March 19, Voyah Auto, a subsidiary of Dongfeng Motor Group, was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first central state-owned enterprise's premium new energy vehicle brand to be listed in Hong Kong. This marks a solid step forward for Dongfeng Motor in deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises. In 2025, Dongfeng's new energy vehicle sales historically exceeded one million units, driving Hubei's automotive industry output scale to break through 1.1 trillion yuan. A trillion-yuan automotive industry corridor spanning Hubei is gradually taking shape.
Facing new circumstances, Hubei has proposed accelerating the transformation and upgrading of its automotive industry, building a comprehensive provincial supply chain system, and achieving a positive interaction between "better" supply and "more" demand. Dongfeng Motor has implemented a series of reforms, continuously transitioning towards intelligent, green, and integrated development. Today in Hubei, producing a new energy vehicle involves Wuhan supplying the "intelligent brain," Xiaogan providing connectors, Huangshi supplying refrigeration equipment, and Shiyan and Jingzhou offering components. This complete industrial chain supports Hubei's automotive industry in advancing towards innovation.
By connecting scattered industrial parks and cities into chains, Hubei enables technology, capital, and talent to flow smoothly along efficient pathways, forming an extensive industrial corridor that runs east-west and north-south. The province aims to create five trillion-yuan industrial corridors: the "Wuhan-Ezhou-Huanggang-Huangshi-Xianning" optoelectronic information corridor, the "Wuhan-Xiaogan-Suizhou-Xiangyang-Shiyan" new energy and intelligent connected vehicle corridor, the "Yichang-Jingmen-Jingzhou-Xiangyang" new energy and new materials corridor, the "Wuhan-Jingmen-Yichang" life health corridor, and the "Wuhan-Huanggang-Jingmen-Jingzhou-Yichang" high-end equipment corridor.
Currently, Hubei persists in promoting the simultaneous advancement of three fronts: upgrading traditional industries, expanding emerging industries, and cultivating future industries. It strives to achieve the "51020" advanced manufacturing industrial cluster target, surpassing the 10 trillion yuan mark by 2030, thereby strongly undertaking the crucial role of supporting the security of the national industrial and supply chains.
Linkage: Internal and External Coordination to Expand the "Circle of Friends" In the early hours of the morning, Ezhou Huahu International Airport presents a picture of a never-sleeping air cargo hub. Since its operation began in July 2022, the airport has opened 117 cargo routes, including 56 international routes. With an average annual growth rate of nearly 30%, it has become the fastest-growing global cargo hub, helping Hubei's total foreign trade import and export value surpass another 100-billion-yuan threshold annually, currently exceeding 800 billion yuan.
Implementing national strategies like the Yangtze Economic Belt development and the rise of central China, Hubei's role as a vital hub is further highlighted—facilitating "mutual reinforcement between east and west" in China's economic circulation, "land-sea coordination" in the opening-up pattern, and "north-south complementarity" in the river strategy. The report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed building a coordinated development pattern for large, medium, and small cities based on city clusters and metropolitan areas. While continuing to strengthen the Wuhan metropolitan area, Hubei is also promoting the rapid development of two other city clusters: "Xiangyang-Shiyan-Suizhou-Shennongjia" and "Yichang-Jingmen-Jingzhou-Enshi." These three metropolitan areas, located in eastern, northwestern, and southwestern Hubei respectively, form a triangle on the provincial map, covering almost the entire region.
The Wuhan-Yichang section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu high-speed railway along the Yangtze River, opened at the end of last year, has injected strong momentum into regional economic and social high-quality development. From Wuhan's optoelectronic information and Xiangyang's high-end equipment and new energy vehicles to Yichang's modern chemical new materials, Hubei's advantageous industries are being connected "like stringing pearls into a chain within one hour" via the high-speed rail network.
"Hubei on the Air Route" has built a cargo network covering five continents globally. "Hubei on the Rails" enables access to 80% of China's major cities within four hours by high-speed rail. "Hubei on the Waterway" boasts the highest number of hundred-million-ton ports among China's inland rivers. Leveraging its status as a modern "thoroughfare to nine provinces," Hubei is driving the central region to "stand out" and "go global": collaboratively promoting major interprovincial railway construction to build a "Yangtze River Mid-Reach City Clusters on the Rails"; co-establishing the "G100 Alliance of National High-tech Zones in Central China" to accelerate the cross-provincial flow of innovation factors; advancing cross-regional industrial agglomeration development to create "Metropolitan Areas on the Industrial Chain." During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Hubei will further畅通 major channels, build major hubs, and strengthen multimodal transport, aiming to become a new-era hub for thoroughfare, commerce, and integration.
Drive: Innovation Leadership Activates New Kinetic Energy In Wuhan's "China Optics Valley," the third dedicated 220 kV substation was recently successfully powered up. A relevant负责人 from State Grid Wuhan East Lake New Technology Development Zone Power Supply Company stated that in the first quarter, industrial electricity consumption in Optics Valley increased by over 10% year-on-year, and enterprise power connection capacity grew by over 29%, reflecting improving market expectations and a trend of expansion and acceleration.
At Huagong Tech's Optoelectronic Information Industry R&D Park,记者 saw automated production lines where the company's self-developed 800G, 1.6T, and other ultra-high-speed optical modules are being mass-produced. Outside the workshop, trucks wait to be loaded and head to the market. Ma Xinqiang, Party Committee Secretary and Chairman of Huagong Tech, explained that long-term dedication to new materials, technologies, and processes has given the company a significant competitive advantage in the ultra-high-speed optical module application field. It is estimated that after the park reaches full production capacity in 2027, it will deliver 40 million optical modules annually to the global market, with an expected annual output value exceeding 30 billion yuan.
Adhering to enterprise-oriented industry-university-research collaborative innovation, Hubei is rapidly transforming its advantages in science and education into industrial strengths. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the average annual growth rate of Hubei's全社会R&D expenditure has remained above 10%, and the number of high-tech enterprises has increased to 35,000. The proportion of added value from high-tech manufacturing in the total value-added of industries above a designated size reached 17.4% in 2025.
Promoting the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation not only drives the industrial economy towards new quality and quality improvement but also increases the efficiency and green development of agriculture. In Yunxi County, located in the Qinba Mountain area, Hubei has promoted the cultivation of 100,000 mu of giant juncao grass. Using grass instead of wood, it has developed over 65 million bags of edible fungi and pioneered new home decoration boards made from grass, establishing a green, circular characteristic agricultural industry system. "Using grass to replace broadleaf trees, one mu of giant juncao can替代 3 to 5 cubic meters of wood, equivalent to preserving half an mu of ecological forest," said Wang Han, Director of the Yunxi County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau. Now, leading enterprises actively come to the fields to order shiitake mushrooms, and banks visit villages to对接 projects. Farmers no longer worry about market access, and agriculture no longer struggles to secure financing,破解ing the challenges of long investment cycles and high risks in agriculture, and achieving deep extension and value enhancement of the industrial chain.
Across the land of Hubei, changes driven by innovation, industry, and枢纽 development are evident. Anchored firmly in pivot construction and following the blueprint consistently, Hubei is accelerating decisive progress in building its pivotal role, striving to contribute significantly to the national大局 through practical results of shouldering major responsibilities and establishing itself as a key支点.
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